


i learned a lot about falling in love (when i fell out of love)

by mogarsgav



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheating, F/F, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rating May Change, also high school? but only briefly, no one has done a falsettos hanahaki yet and i just feel like it's so ripe for content, the others are just sort of orbiting, whizzvin is the main ship here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mogarsgav/pseuds/mogarsgav
Summary: When Whizzer wakes up the morning of his high school graduation with a little cough, he doesn't think anything of it. He's got allergies, and it's spring time. Of course he's coughing.He starts thinking of it a week later when he can feel something stuck just at the back of his throat, and he coughs every few minutes to dislodge it.He begins to worry when it's been a month and he finally dislodges it, only to watch a red petal flutter into the sink, too red to tell what was flower and what was blood.
Relationships: Dr. Charlotte/Cordelia (Falsettos), Marvin/Trina (Falsettos), Trina/Mendel Weisenbachfeld, Whizzer Brown/Marvin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	1. you're playin' ring round my head [an introduction.]

**Author's Note:**

> i know my tags are a little messy and rambly, but i hope the story will make sense as it unfolds. it starts with hs graduation and jumps around college. my plan may change, but you'll know if it does
> 
> work title from the song never saw it coming by tigers jaw!
> 
> if anyone from legacy finds this.......no you didn't. don't @ me for hs au

To say that Whizzer Brown was an emotional kid would be an understatement. He felt things to the max, especially when he was younger, and never fully grew out of it when he became a teenager. His high school experience was marked with flings and fights, by emotionally charged and defensive remarks, even once he was more secure in himself - once he had good friends, a good boyfriend, a calm social life.

When he was 15, he tried out for the cheerleading team (on top of already being on the tennis team, but he needed something to keep him out of the house more often, to keep him from being alone all the time) and made it on. It had been mostly a joke at first, a stupid bet between himself and his friend Charlotte that he could _never_ make it on. When he was 16 and in sophomore year, an upperclassman joined the team too - a decent girl named Trina, and Whizzer didn't like her immediately. "She's too _perfect_ ," he would complain to Charlotte. "Like something out of an etiquette book for Jewish girls."

Then came Trina's boyfriend, a senior who immediately caught his eye. He'd floated through their introduction (the name Marvin Rosenblum stuck around for hours after, accompanied by that stupid cute smile he'd flashed as they shook hands) and the rest of rehearsal, only falling when he saw him kiss Trina, quickly reminded of the unfortunate fact that he was _straight_. If he were to look back from where he stood now, that was the first moment. As his time with the team went on he got closer to Trina - originally an attempt to get to Marvin, but he soon found that he genuinely liked her friendship and soon abandoned whatever subplot he had going on. His friendship with her was more important than a straight guy.

Two years passed and he soon found himself staring into his bathroom mirror with his unzipped gown draped over his suit, trying to cough away a tickle in his throat. Today was the worst day to be getting sick - he would be seeing Trina and Marvin (newly engaged, something that seemed to weigh on his heart despite being beyond happy for her) in person for the first time since they'd graduated themselves. His walk across the stage an hour later was filled with light applause filtering from his little family (comprised his mom, her boyfriend, Trina and Marvin, and his sisters) and his own quiet laughter to it. When Marvin swooped through later to hug him, muttering under his breath how proud he was, he felt another cough fight through from deep in his chest. He didn't feel it again when everyone else congratulated him, he didn't feel it when Trina grabbed his hand, and he didn't feel it when he and Charlotte spent the night at her house drinking themselves silly. Better not to think of it, he thought. He was just getting sick and Marvin's hug had been bad timing.

When the cough persisted into the next week, he felt a little bit of worry creep up his spine. He could feel something in his throat, but he convinced himself it was just phlegm - he's sick, and that's all the more there was to it.

A month later, he finds himself in the bathroom of Trina and Marvin's new apartment, leaning over the sink and bracing his shaking hands against the counter. In the basin below him laid a rose petal, stained red (and whether that was from his own blood after hacking it up or because it was red, he didn't know). The sound of his name being called from just down the hall startles him back into action, scooping the petal up and into the trash before rinsing out the sink. When he opens the door, it's to Marvin's worried face and raised fist as though he was about to knock.

"I have to head home. It's been _great_ hanging with you guys today, and we should do it again soon!" Whizzer leaves fast enough that he doesn't need much more explanation than that, and he tries not to think of the disappointment on the other man's face as he walks home.


	2. i'm a little sick right now (when i'm ready, i will fly us out of here)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from this is home by cavetown
> 
> i'm kind of working with the idea that people know hanahaki exists - it's not necessarily regular, but it exists in the public eye, so whizzer's got some idea of what's going on
> 
> there's explicit underage drinking in this chapter, so be aware of that if that's something that makes you uncomfy!

It's been a week and Whizzer still hasn't told anyone what's been going on. He's been mostly dodging calls to hang out from either of the soon-to-be-Rosenblums, and even from Charlotte. He feels like he has a pretty good reason to avoid them; after all, he's been coughing up rose petals, and he knows exactly why. It didn't feel fair. Who let him fall in love with a straight man getting married to one of his best friends? Why him, why this, why now? The survival rate for this is low, and he knows that. He knows what his own fate is now, knows he's destined to be choked out by flowers planted by a 16 year old version of himself. He's allowed to be a little mopey.

He's cut short from his death reconciliation by an aggressive knocking. He stops halfway to the door, trying to figure out who could be outside. It can't be his mom - she's working, and she has a key anyway. Charlotte knows where the spare key is, and would just let herself in. He still hasn't figured it out by the time his hand is on the doorknob, but he opens it anyway and is forced to come face to face with the very object of his fatal affection. Whizzer's starting to think the universe is playing some sick game with him, toying like a cat trapping a mouse.

"You haven't been answering my texts."

The tone of Marvin's voice makes him recoil in the slightest, and he sighs, knowing fully well he wouldn't be able to turn him away even if he wanted to.

"I haven't been feeling good lately. Think I'm getting sick, and I don't want to get you guys sick too. I'm okay." He starts opening the door further, stepping aside for Marvin to come in, keeping his gaze everywhere but his face. He's about to come up with another excuse when he feels fingers looping around his wrist, tugging him towards his friend (and if it's a little rougher than it should be, he doesn't say a word. the possession feels good).

"You look like you've been crying."

Marvin's goal for the day is to chip away at each and every excuse he could even think to throw out, apparently. Whizzer's breath catches as he tries to look anywhere but in his eyes, the air leaving him in another slow sigh. Any lie he came up with could be shot down again, seen through, but he knows he can't just admit what was going on. Not to him.

"Yeah, I've been stressed. My move in date is in a week, and I need to finish packing everything. That, on top of being sick.. you know. Not a great combination."

That answer seems to sate Marvin enough to make him let go, and Whizzer immediately misses the touch. He chokes on a cough, and he's reminded of exactly what's going on. Worry flashes in his company's eyes for just a second before he relaxes again, and he's smiling that stupid smile that makes Whizzer's heart clench every time. Before he knows what's happening, he's pulling out of the apartment by his elbow and lead out into the hallway gently.

"You can take one night to hang out. Me, you, and Charlotte."

His surprise at the lack of Trina in their itinerary is washed out by how much he _misses_ his friends and decides, fuck it. He can handle one night with him.

He realizes very quickly that he cannot handle one night.

It started out innocently. The three of them seated on the wooden floor of Marvin's living room as he explained that Trina was spending the weekend at her parents' and he was going to be home alone, so he wanted a little bit of company. That devolved quickly into Whizzer cradling a bottle of wine that he was sharing with Marvin as Charlotte poured them all shots. That devolved even further into Charlotte passing out on the couch that Whizzer was currently leaning his back against as he talked with a very drunk and touchy Marvin, pointedly ignoring the hand on him as Marvin's sentence starts.

"Sometimes.. Sometimes I don't even think I want to marry her."

Whizzer has spent most of the conversation zoned out, all of his energy spent on focusing on the heat under whatever area Marvin moved his hand to. It started at his shoulder, then his upper arm, briefly sliding to grab his hand before settling somewhere in the middle of his thigh. Those words wash over his like cold water, and he's suddenly jerking his head to face him. Why wouldn't he want to marry her? What had he missed that was so important during his internal crisis over his hand?

"Why wouldn't you? She's wonderful!"

"She is, and I _love_ her, don't get me wrong. But I think I might be.." There's a pause, and Whizzer leans in a little bit, wanting to catch whatever comes next. Marvin's face contorts, and there's something buried there that he wants to dig into when he's sober, when he can focus on it and not on the blue of his eyes. "..Never mind. I just get worried sometimes."

It doesn't take much to convince Whizzer to drop it, and soon they're passed out together on the floor, Marvin's arm slung over his waist like an afterthought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are appreciated and loved!  
> if you wanna get ahold of me, i can always be reached on twitter (exexlcver) or instagram (exexlover)! feel free to reach out!


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